Another CEO for Golden Rule Management

Another vote for really, truly treating employees like teammates — for managing by the Golden and Silver Rules and thereby building a successful business — from Richard Teerlink, the retired chairman of Harley-Davidson. I recommend his recent comments, as reported by my friend Anne Ciesla Bancroft in her very substantive blog on managing workforce reductions. Anne is an employment lawyer with Fox Rothschild. She reports that:

During his 18 years with Harley-Davidson, Teerlink led the successful cultural transformation of the company based on the premise that “people are an organization’s only sustainable competitive advantage.”

Here here! And unlike some former leaders of major American manufacturers, I don’t think Teerlink has come to this conclusion recently.